


Sink or Swim

by Destiny_Writer



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Awkward Flirting, Day At The Beach, F/F, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Neil Josten is a Little Shit, dan and matt tease relentlessly, look who finally wrote something without any angst!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 02:56:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20302288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiny_Writer/pseuds/Destiny_Writer
Summary: Their little day trip started off well enough; the sun was bright but not roasting, the water was warm enough to be bearable, and, according to Neil’s gremlin, that unfairly attractive, rainbow-haired lifeguard was on duty for the rest of the afternoon.AFTG Summer Fic ft. Renison on the Beach





	Sink or Swim

**Author's Note:**

> Made for the AFTG Summer Gift Exchange! I found the prompt, “I told my friend about you, the cute lifeguard, and now they’re trying to convince me to drown myself in order for you to come save me. From the weird looks you’re giving me, I assume you overheard.” and had to give it a try

Allison Reynolds was about five seconds away from smacking all of her friends upside the head and walking off the beach with what little dignity she still had.

Their little day trip started off well enough; the sun was bright but not roasting, the water was warm enough to be bearable, and, according to Neil’s gremlin, that unfairly attractive, rainbow-haired lifeguard was on duty for the rest of the afternoon.

The first indication that everything was about to go downhill was when Allison caught Rainbow Brite’s stunning deep brown eyes while walking past the lifeguard stand and tripped as her grip on her surfboard got too slack, effectively turning it into a pole vault. The act on its own probably wouldn’t be that ground breaking for other people, but Allison _never_ stumbles. Not _because_ _of_ anyone, anyway. Well, at least until Rainbow Brite and her stupid beautiful face showed up. Regardless, the minute it happened Dan had doubled over laughing. Her and Matt refused to let it go too, bringing it up as often as they dared despite the death glares Allison sent their way.

The second mistake Allison made was mentioning her attraction offhand to Neil within earshot of Matt.

“You like that lifeguard?” Matt practically shouted, barging into their conversation with all the tact of a bull in a china shop. In an attempt to keep the peace (albeit with his signature distinct lack of self-preservation), Neil stepped in between them before Allison could even step forward to ring Matt’s neck. She settled for letting her seething hatred visibly radiate from her entire being instead.

“Keep your voice down, you dolt,” Allison hissed. Entirely undeterred, Matt continued his one-man war against the concept of whispering as an idea popped into his head. He gasped loudly. “Dude,” He said excitedly, “you should _so_ pretend to drown!”

The way Dan’s eyes lit up reminded Allison of a kid on Christmas and instantly filled her with dread. “_Yes_,” Dan crowed. “That’s genius, babe!”

There were so many things wrong with that idea Allison didn’t even know where to begin. So she settled for simply growling, “How in the _hell_ is that genius?”

Dan and Matt ignored that completely. They started bouncing different ideas off each other, everything from to faking a cramp to falling victim to a shark attack. Luckily, Neil was not participating in the drowning discourse. Instead, he elected to glance back in forth between Dan and Matt’s excited planning to Allison’s fuming while trying, poorly, to hid his laughter. Allison turns to Neil with an imploring expression. Desperate times, and all.

“_Please_ show our friends what having a common sense looks like and back me up here, Neil,” Allison practically begged. Neil gave Allison a considering look.

With a shrug, he said, “Why not try it?”

Her eyes widened in betrayal for a bare second, then she scoffed. She should’ve known better; Neil’s always been a dirty instigator at heart. “What do you mean ‘why not?’ How about ‘why the fuck would I _ever_?’” Allison said incredulously.

“You want her attention, right?” He asks dryly, raising an eyebrow. Blowing out a frustrated breath, Allison scowled but begrudgingly nodded.

“Getting her to try to save you would give you the opportunity.”

A humorless laugh escaped Allison’s lips before she could stop it. “It also would open up a world of uncomfortable and downright embarrassing questions.” She poked Neil pointedly on the shoulder. “Forget it, kid. I’m not doing it.”

Neil, unfortunately, was undeterred. His eyes narrowed in thought for a moment before they took on an evil twinkle.

“Of course,” Neil practically _purred_, “I could always ask Andrew to introduce you.” Immediately Allison groaned, burying her head in her hands and rubbing tiredly at her temples. Without looking up, Allison said, “I don’t know how, but you managed to find an option I like even less. Fucking congratulations, I guess.”

“Hey, you’re the one who shot down the other options. I’m just trying to help.”

Obviously, Allison not only needed a new plan for getting the girl, but also needed entirely new friends. These ones were giving it their damnedest effort to break her.

And just when Allison was convinced that it couldn’t get any worse, she spared a glance through her fingers toward the lifeguard tower and caught Rainbow Brite’s questioning stare. Allison blew out a frustrated breath and raised her head from her hands.

Alright, fuck all tact. She’s already been made a fool of, at this point. May as well go down in a full blaze of glory.

Allison pins each of her friends with her most threatening glare. “I’m going to go talk to her and you assholes better not follow me or I swear to _God_ I will beat you to death with an exy racquet.”

Matt let out an excited squeal, Dan gave an approving wink, and Neil raised an eyebrow as if to call her bluff, but none of them made to come with her. With that done, Allison squared her shoulders, held up her chin, and walked straight up to Rainbow Brite. Before the lifeguard can even get off a single question, Allison holds up her hands to stall.

“Listen,” She said, imploring Rainbow Brite, “I’m going to go out on a potentially embarrassing limb here and assume you overhead what my idiot friends were saying.”

When Rainbow Brite nodded slowly, Allison continued, “Let me start by saying that I hold no responsibility for what they were saying, but I do ask you don’t hold their dumb decisions against them too harshly. They mean well enough.”

Spastic waving and thumbs-up gestures started up behind Rainbow Brite’s head and Allison had to bite her lip to keep from grimacing. “Mostly,” She amended. Rainbow Brite laughed sounded like heavenly bells and Allison was once again reminded of how unfair this whole situation was. Sighing, Allison said, “I am sorry though if that made you uncomfortable. I wanted to approach you ever since I saw you, and I suppose they were trying to help in their own crazy way.” 

Luckily, there did seem to be a God looking out for people whose friends try to sabotage their love lives. Rainbow Brite gave Allison a kind smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not mad or anything.” She said, and paused as her cheeks grew started to pinken. “In fact, I’m flattered.”

Whatever Allison was going to say or do next was instantly forgotten and replaced by both shock and an irritating kernel of hope. “You are?” She asked, the pitch of her voice only staying even through sheer force of will.

“Well of course. I mean, you are very beautiful, you know.” The blush spreading across her cheeks was absolutely adorable and the words absolutely brought every thought in Allison’s brain coming to a screeching halt. Rainbow Brite met Allison’s eyes directly again, a beautiful yet shy smile spreading across her lips. “Anyone would be flattered to have someone like you trying to get their attention.”

Allison was stunned into silence (another first), left to stare blankly at Rainbow Brite long enough that lifeguard’s smile began to waver. She fidgeted a bit with a lock of vibrantly green hair.

“I’m so sorry, did I interpret that wrong? Usually when someone wants to pull the whole fake drowning bit it means they’re attracted to the lifeguard, so I guess I just assumed—"

“Woah there,” Allison said, holding up her hands in a slow-down gesture before slowly placing them on her shoulders. “Relax, Lovely, you didn’t misinterpret anything.”

“Good,” Rainbow Brite sighed. She giggled as she raised an eyebrow. “Lovely?” She questioned. Allison shrugged.

“Well, I don’t know your actual name, so I figured I could just call it like I see it.”

“It’s Renee. Renee Walker,” Renee said. “And what can I call you? Besides Beautiful, of course.”

“Allison Reynolds,” She said proudly. “Lovely to meet you, Renee Walker.”

“You are quite the charmer aren’t you, Allison Reynolds?” Renee laughed. Her cheeks bloomed full red, her expression almost timid as she asked, “Would you like to go out sometime? Maybe after my shift ends?”

Allison’s smile threatened to split her face in two. She took one of Renee’s hand a gave it a quick squeeze. “It’s a date.”

It was around that time that Allison’s friends remember how they’re the worst and started cheering as they approached, Dan and Matt dragging Neil along like luggage. Allison groaned, burying her face in her hands once again as Renee tried unsuccessfully to stifle her laughter.

“Those are some spirited friends you’ve got in your corner,” Renee said, still full of mirth and the slightest bit of teasing. It made Allison snort, shaking her head in fond exasperation.

“Yeah, they’re something, alright,” Allison said as the group came to a stop only two feet away. Despite all Dan and Matt’s initial attempts at ruining any chance Allison had to speak with Renee, Neil was supposed to be on Allison’s side, so Allison glared at Neil in particular.

“Don’t stand there pretending you’re not listening, Neil Josten. I know your little instigator heart is just dying to see what fresh Hell your meddling has brought on.”

And because Neil can never help being an asshole, all he did was smirk back. She dismissed them all with a scoff and a flip of her hair. Turning back to Renee, Allison was practically beaming with hopefulness.

“See you soon?” She asked softly.

“I’ll meet you here at 8,” Renee confirmed, grabbing Allison’s hand and giving it a quick squeeze. They lingered there for a moment, only broken up by an ill-timed yell for help coming from down the beach. Renee’s head whipped toward the sound, her mouth tugging down into a frown.

“Sorry, I’ve got to take care of that,” She said, reaching for the life-preserver hanging from her tower and breaking into a jog. Allison begrudgingly let go of Renee’s hand, but rallied back quickly with an encouraging grin.

“Don’t be sorry. Go help that idiot not die!” Allison called after Renee’s retreating figure. Renee sent one last sweet smile over her shoulder before fully dashing off to save a life like the angel she is, leaving Allison at the mercy of her friends.

“Allison’s got a daaaaaate!” Matt and Dan sang in unison. Still on the high of Renee’s beautiful everything, Allison’s face heated up quickly before she could try and push it all down with a scowl.

“Shut up,” Allison grumbled, flipping her hair over her shoulder to try and hide the spreading redness in her cheeks.

“We did it! She’s _blushing_!” Matt crowed happily. Dan leaned over towards Neil and stage whispered to him, “You think she’ll put out?”

“Oh absolutely,” said Neil, completely deadpan. And with that, Allison decided anywhere would be better than here.

Whacking Matt on the ear and pushing past Dan and Neil, Allison started walking toward her car. (Though, She didn’t get very far. No way in _Hell_ would she ever miss her date just to save a little dignity.)


End file.
